Tag Archives: California

Was you ever bit by a dead bee? – Eddie, 1944 movie To Have and Have Not

You might be under the impression that the “Bee Girl” era actually happened with Blind Melon’s song No Rain released in 1992. It actually goes back further than to 1983 with Joe Elliott decided to use Lauren Bacall’s dress in To Have and Have Not as inspiration for Julia Robert’s hooker dress in the movie Pretty Woman (see previous post “Oh! Pretty Woman).

One day Kurt kept pressuring me to come up with a new song. Joe Elliott was standing near by. I really wasn’t in the mood to deal with them that day and I sat down on the stage. I said, “I’ve got no new tale to tell.”

After a minute, I stood up and started making up a song which became No New Tale To Tell performed by some of the former members of the band Bauhaus who formed the band Love and Rockets. The song was released on the 1987 album Earth, Sun, Moon album.

If you do not know who Bauhaus is, they were featured in David Bowie’s and Susan Sarandon’s ’83 cult classic The Hunger with their song from 1979 “Bela Lugosi’s Dead”.

The music video for No New Tale to Tale was the start of the Bee Girl era along with the image of a monkey, a symbol for Michael Jackson’s chimp Bubbles. This included Kurt Cobain’s collection of toy monkeys and the use of a toy monkey in the Alice In Chains music video Grind.

The idea to start naming bands for “fruit” came from the use of “peach” in Pour Some Sugar On Me performed by Def Leppard and U Got The Look performed by Prince and Shiela E. It also came from me joking around with INXS sayingthey were the vegetables and I being the fruit.

This is how I came up with the name when Billy Corgan asked me what he should name his band and I said “Smashing Pumpkins” and also named the band “Blind Melon”, with Melons and Pumpkins being a fruit.

The band Krokus which had been on tour with Def Leppard on the Rock Till You Drop Tour in 1983, released To Rock or Not to Be (a reference to the movie To Have and Have Not starring Bogey and Bacall) in 1995 also used the image on the cover art.

One day while Kurt (Cobain) and I were working on songs, he pulled a sheet of notebook paper out of his back pocket which happened to be the lyrics for what would become “Bee Girl” performed by Pearl Jam.

“Bee girl, you’re gonna die.You don’t wanna be famous, you wanna be shy.Do your dances alone in your room.Becoming a star will become your doom.Bee Girl, be a girl

You know time is long, and life is short.Begin to live while you still can.Believe in nothing, believe me, Those who can be trusted can change their mind.When the anxious is the present, unwrap your gifts, take your time.Everything you imagine needn’t be stuck in your mind.Bee Girl, be a girl… “ – Bee Girl performed by Pearl Jam

“She should have stayed away from friendsShe should have had more time to spendShe should have died when she was bornShe should have worn the crown of thornsShe should have been a son” – Been A Son, Nirvana

“Space may be the final frontierBut it’s made in a Hollywood basementCobain can you hear the SpearsSinging songs off station to stationAnd Alderaan’s not far awayIt’s Californication” – Californication by The Red Hot Chili Peppers

Like most Southerners, you could always find a bottle of chili peppers marinating in vinegar in our refrigerator ready at hand to sprinkle on what our hearts desired. It was usually set out on the table after Mom cooked up a batch of turnip greens and even the occassional barbeque sandwiches.

Kurt Cobain had a habit of raiding the refrigerator whenever he would show up and had noticed the bottle. We all watched in amusement as he removed the cap and touched his tongue to it. His face turned immediately red.

Of course, Kurt also had to go through my record collection and there he found a rare rerelease of The Beatles St. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album which a friend gave me Christmas 1978. The musical film St. Peppers Lonely Heart’s Club Band was released in July of 1978 starring Peter Frampton, Aerosmith, Bee Gees, and many more.

Kurt and Joe knew of a band in California in need of a new name and the name “The Red Hot Chili Peppers” was suggested (1983).

Michael Hutchence suggested Kurt take me to see The Rocky Horror Picture Show one night at a local theater. Hutch wanted me to see the movie because of one of the actresses was Aussie Nell Campbell. The next thing I know, I am being dressed in a Dr. Frankenfurter costume and then pushed out onto the stage. Just for fun I asked Tommy Lee for one of his socks. I stuffed part of the sock into the front of the costume leaving part hanging out. Everyone thought it was funny and Anthony Kiedis and Flea jumped up from the crowd and said they wanted to do that. Not know what they had in mind, the world actually found out.

I also remember hearing Kurt say there is an Adam & The Ants song called Dirk Wears White Sox released in 1979.

If you will look at the cover art for RHCP “One Hot Minute” it looks like a redhead not a brunette sitting at a piano, doesn’t it?

“Well if you think real beauty’s on the outsideWell that’s a far cryFrom the truthMaybe all the information you receivedWell you should not believeThere’s no proofSave yourself from all the lies of the beautiful peopleIt’s time to run from the lies of the beautiful people” – Lies of the Beautiful People performed by Sixx: A.M.

Not long after Joe Elliott and I met we were talking about my favorite Beatles song which happened to be Helter Skelter. At the time I didn’t know of the California band by the name of Motley Crue who had been performing a cover of the song which would be released in September of that year on the “Shout at the Devil” album.

We talked about the meaning of the song and I found out there was actually an amusement ride called “Helter Skelter” in England. I had a collection of Beatles songs which included the song, but not the White album which had been released the year I was born, 1968. Joe proceed to tell me and Kurt Cobain the sordid history of the White album and the song.

The term ‘helter skelter’ was far less well known in the US. To the psychopath Charles Manson it was a coded prophecy for an apocalyptic race war (or Armageddon). This is why Kurt at one point drew an “X” on his forehead and had his picture taken. Def Leppard would release the song Armageddon It on the Hysteria album in 1987.

It wasn’t long after this discussion that I met Tommy Lee and Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue who in February of ’83 had performed at the US Fest in California with INXS. (This is when Tommy Lee gave me the nickname Bullwinkle.)

Joe took some time off in June from the Rock Till You Drop tour, claiming a sore throat, while we all worked on new songs. About this time Pete Willis left the band and they called in their friend Phil Collen of the band Girl to fill the vacancy. They went back to California to the movie studios and filmed the original music video for Photograph with the stabbing knife at the beginning and using images of Marilyn Monroe. Joe later made a second version with a black cat like mine at the beginning (see The Pussycat Dolls to Papa Don’t Preach post).

After coming up with the song The Beautiful People I also came up with the stagename “Marilyn Manson” for Def Leppard’s use of Marilyn Monroe in Photograph and the story about Helter Skelter and Charles Manson drawing a connection to Motley Crue.

This is also where I came up with the stagename for Eminem (M&M for Marilyn Manson) after writing songs which he would perform. It was Michael Jackson’s suggestion for the spelling of the name.

I would go on to make up the song Beautiful performed by Christina Aguilera after Courtney Love gave me a compliment. Courtney and I did not get along and it surprised me when I overheard the compliment. So, in a turn of kindness I made up the song. This song was based on ELO’s Don’t Bring Me Down.

Years later I would makeup a third song titled Lies of the Beautiful People and I asked Nikki Sixx if he would perform it so to tie into the other songs, The Beautiful People and Beautiful. We then came up with the band name Sixx A.M. (A.M. being the first 2 letters of my name).

What do the bands Korn & Nickelback have in common? Besides me writing songs for them, it was Adam & The Ants reversing the “d” in Adam who inspired me to want the “b” in Nickelback to be reversed. Korn did this as well.

Amy Lee

Singer, songwriter, founder of the band Evanescence. I was discovered by Joe Elliott, lead singer of Def Leppard, and a yet unknown Kurt Cobain in May of '83.
I am not the lead singer Amy Lynn Hartzler.